Reviews

It shows a lot of different ways love occurs, in an everyday way

I couldn't love an actor more than Huang Chin Chi. Both he and the actor who playesd his little brother in this short film were very good. It was a well written story, but the real delight was that the acting was entirely facial and physical. You could have deleted the dialog and soundtrack and still had quite the same experience, that is how good they were.

People will tend to complicate the reviews here. If you love stories about love, if you have ever loved a sibling, if a parent has ever loved you distantly and unconventionallly, if you've ever had to take a minute, this 16ish minutes will light up your soul.

I rated highly because it made me remember when love was simple, and the only answer, before life got difficult and confusing.

I hope to see Huang Chun Chi in more prominent and starring roles in the future. His skills are excellent.

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FILM YANG GW PIKIR AKAN BOSENIN. TERNYATA... SEINDAH INI ?

Awal tau film ini dari trailer IG Netflix, dan disitu gw ada komen kalau sinematografinya vibe Jepang gitu. Gw suka betapa naturalnya mereka, no make up no filter.
Film ini udah masuk watchlist, cuma emang ga ngeh kalau rilisnya today.
Daaaan sehabis pulang kerja, sampai rumah. Gw liat notif FILM INI SUDAH RILIS! Auto nonton, 3 detik pertama gw sempet mikir "ah kok" karena abis liat siapa yg muncul diprolog. Eh ga perlu nunggu lama 3 menit pertama film ini bikin gw lanjut nonton, dan selesai gitu aja pas gw rebahan, ga ada gw pause, ga ada gw skip, ga ada kedistract. Beneran MENIKMATI banget filmnya. Gw suka gimana cut to cut film ini! Cepet! Tipe movie yg gw sukak.

Agak jarang ya, Film Korea genre romance, drama, melodrama ini POV nya lebih ke si cowok. Atau sebenernya banyak, mungkin ga ketonton sama gw, karena yg gw ngeh mostly POV cewe.

Gw suka gmn obrolan ML dan FL difilm ini. Sebenarnya ini film yg bisa ketebak gmn alurnya, TAPI TETEP AJA GW GA NYANGKA KALO ITU BENERAN SESUAI APA TEBAKAN GUA. But it's okeee. Gua terima pake nangiiiis kejer nontonnya. Mau gimana emdingnya, gw suka gimana "berprosesnya" perasaan mereka satu sama lain, gmn hubungan manusia di film ini, walaupun ga detail dan basa-basi, tapi tersampaikan aja.

Film ini bukan cerita romance ala CEO tampan kaya ketemu cewe miskin lalu jatuh cinta. POKOKNYA KALIAN WAJIB NONTON!

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THIS FILM DESERVES A FULL 8.8 RATİNG.

First of all, I should mention that this will be a short review because I don't know what to write at length. When I watched part of the trailer, I thought it was a thriller and thought, "Ah, it would be great if it were a romantic series." Then it appeared on MDL, and after watching a bit, I saw that it was a movie and a romantic one. So I thought maybe I'd watch it, but it completely slipped my mind. Then today I saw that this movie came out and decided to start watching it for a bit of fun. Before starting, I thought it would just be an ordinary coming-of-age story. But it was definitely so much more than that. When I finished it, I told myself, "I'm so glad I watched this." The romance between them was lovely, and it delivered everything it promised. Although I thought the ending was a little strange, it was quite good and I liked it. Finally, this movie deserves a full 8.8 rating. I wish someone would give it a higher score so its rating would increase. Anyway, have a good day.

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Sad People in Love

From the jump, Pavane feels like it exists in a slightly warped reality where everyone is lonely, underemployed, and quietly disappointed in themselves, which already makes it more honest than most romantic films. The story centres on three people working in the same department store, which is basically a factory for emotional suppression. Gyeong-rok parks cars while chasing dance like it’s a personality trait, Mi-jeong works in the basement like society physically pushed her underground, and Yo-han floats around as the charming, slightly strange friend who seems socially successful but radiates the kind of loneliness that comes from being liked without being known.

The romance between Gyeong-rok and Mi-jeong does not arrive with fireworks or dramatic confessions because this film understands that people who feel undesirable don’t flirt like normal humans. Their connection grows through small glances, long pauses, and the shared exhaustion of knowing they do not fit society’s idea of a perfect couple, which somehow makes their relationship feel more intimate than any cinematic grand gesture ever could. It is not fantasy love, it is survival love, the kind that says, “You also feel out of place? Great, let’s be uncomfortable together.”

Mi-jeong sits at the emotional centre of the film, and instead of giving her a makeover or a glow-up montage, the story does something far more radical by letting her remain exactly as she is and demanding that the audience take her seriously anyway. She is repeatedly criticised for her appearance, as if her face itself is a social failure, and the film never pretends this cruelty does not wound her. But it also refuses to turn beauty into her redemption arc. Her worth comes from endurance, from continuing to exist in a world that keeps suggesting she should not. Go Ah-sung plays her with a quiet vulnerability that feels like someone constantly holding their breath, revealing trauma, fear, and the aching desire to be seen without ever turning Mi-jeong into a lesson or a slogan.

Gyeong-rok is gentle in a way that feels painfully realistic because he is clearly in love and yet emotionally illiterate, like a man who downloaded feelings without reading the instructions. He hesitates, misreads situations, and can be frustratingly dense, but that clumsiness makes him feel human rather than engineered. Their relationship never feels manufactured; it feels like something that grew by accident because neither of them expected to be chosen.

Yo-han is the most ambiguous figure, hovering between friend, observer, and emotional disruptor, adding a slightly surreal layer to the story as if he understands the characters better than they understand themselves. Sometimes this perspective deepens the film’s exploration of loneliness, showing how charisma can coexist with isolation, but at other times it pulls attention away from the central romance just as it begins to settle into rhythm, which raises the uncomfortable question of whether this imbalance is intentional or simply a flaw in the writing.

Visually, the film leans into muted colours and a faintly vintage atmosphere, turning the underground parking lot into an obvious but effective metaphor for lives lived outside society’s spotlight. The cinematography is restrained and elegant, and the use of classical music lifts certain scenes into something almost dreamlike. Yet the pacing in the second half weakens the overall impact, as transitions between emotional moments feel awkward and uneven, creating a pattern where the film draws you in deeply and then abruptly lets you go before the feeling can fully land.

Still, despite these structural issues, the film leaves behind genuine emotional weight because its sincerity about love, insecurity, friendship, and longing cuts through its imperfections. It is less about happiness than about the way even brief love can permanently reshape how people see themselves. These are characters who believe they do not deserve affection and slowly realise that being chosen once might be enough to sustain them for years.

Pavane is not a spectacle and does not trade in fantasy or transformation. It offers hushed pain, awkward tenderness, and the quietly devastating idea that someone might love you exactly where you are: in the basement, in the parking lot, in the version of yourself you assumed no one would ever pick. And somehow, that restrained hope feels more radical than any dramatic romance ever could.

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Blends fun and fighting as only Lau Kar-Leung could

A clash between old-world discipline and new-world confidence that blends fun and fighting as only Lau Kar-Leung could, The Lady Is the Boss is loud, chaotic and hilariously abrasive, fully embracing its oddball identity. Spending its early acts indulging in absurdist gags, it does begin to lose focus around the midway point, throwing caution to the wind with its spotty scripting; however, the film really comes alive during its many inventive and highly entertaining fight sequences, adorably adapting Lau's choreography style for practical purposes, exchanging bloody fisticuffs for dance fights and shimmering blades for BMX bikes and gymnastic equipment. It even includes a few tongue-in-cheek pastiches of some of Lau's more famous works, all set to some super funky synth beats, while the film's commitment to absurdity gives it a truly infectious energy. A lot of the comedy had me giggling uncontrollably, thanks largely to its cast and how much fun they are clearly having with their roles, especially Gordon Liu and the adorable Kara Wai Ying-Hung delivering tenfold as the titular lady. Comedy certainly takes precedence over elegance and means that while The Lady Is the Boss is not as refined as some of Lau's other works, it's lively, assertive and hard not to enjoy on its own rambunctious terms.

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no es taaaan buena

mire muchas ediciones de esta película, de unas escenas de peleas y eso me llamo la atención, también al saber que era mujer la prota (ya que la actriz ya la he visto en otros kdramas y me agrada)

quizas hubiese funcionado mejor en una serie corta que una peli, porque siento que todo fue apresurado y el final fue el típico final feliz donde todo sale bien o termina bien sin importar si es realista o no.
para empezar, al antagonista de esta historia nos lo muestran como un estudiante que tiene poder, ya que su papá está metido en la política por lo que este estudiante puede hacer y deshacer en la escuela, donde quiera sin importar que, así que los profesores y demás deben seguir sus órdenes y no enfrentarlo, porque aunque intente denunciar por el acoso que hace a los demás estudiante no funcionará porque las influencias de su padre silenciarán todo, haciendo que su hijo no tenga ningún problema. y sabiendo todo esto me dices que una profesora (que es la protagonista y ex boxeadora) tuvo la facilidad de darle tremendos golpes quedando humillado ante toda la escuela, lo denunció ocasionando que fuera expuesto a los medios de comunicación y acusado de un homicidio, sin que el papá pudiera evitar todo ese escándalo con las influencias y poder que tiene??? es como??? solo porque es la prota pudo hacer todo eso, con tanta facilidad, no me lo creo. en esos casos casi siempre termina saliendo todo a favor de los que tienen dinero y poder.
otra cosa que tambien me pareció raro, es que en la pelea final, el estudiante aprobará que la pelea fuera en su escuela y mucho más raro que los profesores asistieran y estos mismos estuvieran muy emocionados de que alguien le diera una lección (se ponían demasiado eufóricos al ver como la prota golpeaba al que era su alumno, fue como ??? no disimulaban que estában bien felices por eso) siento que el papa de este, no aprobaría que algo sucediera en la escuela, sin embargo sucedió y todos estában felices de que el estudiante fuera golpeado (se supone que el estudiante era muy intimidante en la escuela y todos apoyaban a la prota a golpearlo) no se, esa pelea fue un poco extraña y poco realista (refiriéndome al como se dio y el lugar donde fue). o sea, si me gustó esa pelea, fue entretenida la verdad pero no quita que me cuestione en el contexto que estaba sucediendo.

lo que si me gusto fue las escenas de pelea, los sonidos y efectos, tambien las actuaciones de los personajes en aquellas escenas de acoso, eran muy creíbles.

pd: que sexy se miraba el cabron de lee jung 🫦

honestamente no es taaaan buena como la hacen ver, esta pasable pero no es la mejor por como desarrollan la historia y llegan a ese final poco realista. -9 feb 2026

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"What the future holds can't be known"

Flowing was a 1956 Naruse Mikio film with an all-star female cast. Centered on a failing geisha house and the women who worked there, it showcased their personal problems, debts, and loyalty.

Otsuta is an aging geisha (39 IRL) whose house is diminishing. Once there were 7 geishas working there, now only 2 remain (one of whom is 50-years-old) and her bills are stacking up. Her daughter, Katsuyo, only lasted six months as a geisha and is now looking for work to supplement the family income. Otsuta’s lazy sister and young daughter reside in the house ever since she and her husband broke up. Rounding out the family connections, Otsuta’s step-sister helped her finance the house after Otsuta mortgaged it to give her lover money. The lover promptly left her after receiving the cash. Now she is saddled with heavy debt and a nagging, condescending sister. Into this mix walks in Rika, an older widow (45-years-old) who needs a job and is hired as the maid. Otsuta scrambles to obtain financing to keep her house open and also must confront an extortionist ex-employee. Life as a geisha is never easy.

To clarify, this was not one of those geisha films where the women slept with their customers, these geishas were for entertainment purposes only. The whole career field was languishing in light of modern amusements. Otsuta also wasn’t the most astute businesswoman or ethical. She had a habit of skimming the girls’ profits. Katsuyo felt like she was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea as the daughter of a geisha. She would feel “too small” if she married into another family and what man would marry into hers? Job opportunities for women were few and far between, with long lines around the temporary employment agencies. Rika provided the warmth of the film as she cared for the women calmly, insightfully, and nearly always with a smile. The film was based on a book written by a woman who had been a maid in a geisha house. Currently Tanaka Kinuyo is listed as supporting but she was every bit a main character and our avatar into this world.

It would be difficult to gather a stronger female cast---Tanaka, Yamada Isuzu, Takamine Hideko, Okada Mariko, and Sugimura Haruko to name but a few. It did create a few issues with the ages of the characters. Yamada at 39 was four years older than “older” sister Kahara Natsuko (35). Takamine was just 7 years younger (32) than her film mom! I was actually shocked to find the sisters were only in their 30s. Age discrimination was also shown as poor Rika had been turned away from other jobs for being too old at 45--well, clutch my pearls! And oddly Otsuta found the name Rika to be too complicated and foreign to say so she nicknamed her Oharu, the movie character Tanaka played in “Oharu” (1952).

Much like a river, Flowing, carried these women downstream in their lives, inexorably pulled by age, societal changes, and a need for love and acceptance. Loneliness was bred into their lifestyle despite spending their days entertaining men with song and shamisen. Relationships, like money, flowed in and out of their lives. Stability was a hard boulder to cling to as life rushed around them. I loved the cast and idea behind this film, yet I also found it overly long and repetitive. This is one of those films I desperately wished to enjoy more than I did. It was not a loss, for how could spending two hours with women displaying their polished craft ever be a waste? Even when my mind wandered, I was grateful to take a ride on the river of time with them.

19 February 2026

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Beautiful in every aspect

So it was early 2020, the pandemic had just hit hard and I was confined at home, when due to so much extra time on my hands at home and good advice from a Korean friend, this movie was actually the first Korean thing I ever watched.
At that time I was bored to death by all Western production who had long given up good story telling and exchanged it for crudeness, every absurder sex stunts stuff and political messaging on end. It had been years, many years, since I last saw anything remotely good, let alone something that really touched my heart or managed the rather impossible (compared to others) - and made me cry.

I started watching this movie without any expectations and boy was I in for a surprise.

The main story is set in 1991, with a group of teenagers, and particularly the beautiful love story between Beom-sil and Soo-ok. It's told in retrospective and it's a tragic story of two young innocent people who, due to unfortunate circumstances, in the end, can not be together.
I do not want to spoiler this story, but what I can say is that apart from me being glued to my screen for th full length of the movie, this story hit me hard, and I was, to my own surprise, crying my eyes out for the last half hour of the movie and even after I couldn't stop crying. I think I never experienced that before and - although I have watched many touching K-drama stories meanwhile - also never after that movie.

It is beautifully shot, set on a Korean island in the 90s, and the main characters played by Kim So-Hyun and Doh Kyung-soo are portrayed so touching and realistic, I was in positive shock back then, as I just hadn't seen anything that authentic in many years.

If you like beautiful but tragic love stories, watch this, but be prepared it's a real tear jerker. Six years later now and I still haven't forgotten this movie and like to watch it from time to time.

Oh, and on a side note: for all those saying Doh Kyung-soo can't act? I disagree after having seen him in this movie.

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Same great cast, same story

Pegasus three brings back all the characters that we loved and maybe some extras that not everyone have seen. The actors all do a great job and the main group have great chemistry together. This feels like a reward movie for people who have watched all three movies and the TV series. The production quality is top-notch as always. Really shows off the technology of the cars and the complexities of rally racing.

The downside is, it’s the same story as the first and second movie. Down to the same story beats, and if I sat down, maybe at the same point in the movie. There was a potential to do a lot more by having a team of four racers instead of two, and showing the characters as the underdogs against the world. Unfortunately, the story went back to “losers” with no money, one car, evil people in power trying to sabotage them.

Also, my spouse was really upset about the lack of female cast. The TV series did a good job of correcting this and adds to a feeling that the characters have no growth from where they ended the second movie.

It is still a good movie, but does not have the spirit of the second movie. However, it will not have the rewatch level of the second movie.

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Hilarious movie

Did you like Sean at the Dead or Hot Fuzz? This is their Chinese cousin. And he’s just as good.

But the water pipes is a really fun, enjoyable comedy that starts with a simple premise and a few characters, as the story progresses the story becomes more ridiculous and absurd us, and they add more characters. Each character add more to the story and the absurdity is hilarious while not breaking the reality of the world. The actors all do an incredible job the story sticks together and you’re so focused on what the characters are doing you don’t spend time pointing out how this is absurd or ridiculous. Meaning it’s in grossing story. My spouse and I spent most of the movie, laughing out loud.

See this movie.

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Interesting...

Under normal circumstances, I would never have given this movie a chance based on the description alone. However, I randomly saw a short TikTok edit about the film and wanted to see the ending. This movie is… interesting, to say the least. A young girl is “kidnapped” and lives with a pedophile for two months. Eventually, she is found, and he is arrested. Cue start of movie when she’s a young adult.

To think that her time as a young girl with this man for two months is the LEAST of her problems is actually insane and just goes to show that the movie had quite a bit going for it in terms of story. I think that’s why I enjoyed it. It subverted expectations. I went into it not liking the topic but was pleased with the story it was telling.

The acting was good, it’s shot well, and the original soundtrack is nice. It never crosses the line in terms of visuals if you know what I mean. The other stuff she goes through is far worse if you can believe that.

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A fun watch with a traditional Chinese ending

Go see this movie!

This movie was in enjoyable to watch. The story starts very creatively and it’s really nice to see how creative they were with the different dreamworld. Lots of computer generated action and events, but to a high-quality the actors all do a great job the characters have realistic, chemistry, and good character development. It is a gripping story that starts out fun and it becomes very serious. The traditional Chinese ending is not bad, but I felt undercuts the creativity of the earlier part of the story. The end is very good, very well acted and emotional. As a long time movie watcher though. I give more points for not falling into tropes.

Go see this morning and enjoy the Chinese industry. I keep making creative movies like this.

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